Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is a process which produces single or multiple solid objects in a nylon based polymer by the selective melting of polymer powder. It is effectively a method of making plastic parts, in an engineering material, with no need for tooling.

Selective laser sintering is one of the earliest and most developed techniques of 3D printing. It was originally developed in 1984 by Carl Deckard of the University of Austen, Texas, who founded the DTM Corporation. The technology will be 40 years old in 2024.

The process makes some of the most robust and durable polymer components of any 3D printing process.

As with all additive manufacturing, the SLS process requires a 3D CAD model. Virtually all 3D CAD model formats can be accepted by Aben Europe.

The 3D CAD model is sliced into a series of 0.1 mm thick layers which are then transmitted to the additive manufacturing machine.

Selective laser sintering utilises a laser to selectively melt a nylon 12 powder material into the shape required for each layer contained within the slice file. Each layer is built on top of the last until the physical model is complete. The model is then removed from the machine, cleaned, and can then undergo subsequent processes or simply be shipped to the customer.

Parts built by the SLS process requires no support structure, and therefore parts can be manufactured in a 3D array, making the process highly efficient and so suitable for low volume production applications.

Parts manufactured by the SLS process are almost as accurate as those produced by SLA but are tougher, and more resilient, and do not undergo subsequent dimensional changes.

The SLS parts supplied by Aben Europe are supplied in high quality Polyamide 12 Nylon. This material:

PA12 has excellent resistance to:

• Greases and oils
• Fuel and hydraulic fluids
• Water, alkalis, salt solutions and many solvents
• It also has very good stress cracking resistance even in the presence of chemicals as well as damping of noise and vibration.

Materials Selection Guide for SLS

Rating System

• •••••Best
• ••••Better
• •••Good

	DuraForm PA	Duraform GF
Base Material	Nylon/PA12	Nylon/PA12
Stiff/rigid		••••
Non-rigid/durable-tough	••••
High-temperature resistance		•••
High elongation	•••
High-impact strength	••••
Accuracy	•••••	••••
Surface finish	•••••	•••
Colour	White	Pale Grey
Recommended Applications
Production Parts	•••••	•••••
Snap fits/ living hinges	••••
Automotive design	•••••	••••
Aerospace parts and ducting	••••	••••
Medical applications	•••••
Jigs/fixtures/tools	••••	•••••

	DuraForm PA	Duraform GF
Sinterered Part Density (g/cm ³) ASTM 792	1.03	1.49
Flexural Modulus (MPa) ASTM D 790	1387	3106
Flexural Strength (MPa) ASTM D 790	48	37
Tensile Modulus (MPa) ASTM D 638	1586	4068
Tensile Strength (MPa) ASTM D 638	43	26
Elongation at Break (%) ASTM D 638	14%	1.4%
Impact Stength (J/m) Notched Izod Unnotched Izod ASTM D 256	32 336	41 123
Heat Deflection Temperature (°C) @ 0.45 MPa @ 1.82 MPa ASTM D 648	180 95	179 134
Flamability UL 94	HB	HB
Hardness ASTM D2240	73D	77D

Aben Europe supplies two different variants of its nylon material. The first is plain PA12 – a high purity polyamide 12, which produce excellent prototypes in a white colour. The second is a glass filled variant which we call PA12GF.This is a much stiffer material, with a high density. The properties of the two materials are summarised briefly in the table below.

More detailed information can be found in the material datasheets

The applications of the parts made by SLS are extensive. Part properties are similar to production items, so SLS components are very useful for pre-production functional testing of designs. Indeed such testing is often so successful, that for short production runs, 3D printed SLS parts are used for production applications. A brief list of the applications of SLS parts include;

More detailed information can be found in the material datasheets

Parts can be painted to a variety of finishes, even to a gloss finish and Aben offers a wide variety of colours and can obtain specific RAL numbers upon request. More simply parts can be dyed, which does not change the surface finish, but isn’t the effective and low cost alternative to painting.

View our comprehensive guide to understanding SLS design.

To view our how to guide to create your very own SLS quote please follow our how to guide which is avaliable at the link below:

To start your own SLS quote please follow the link below, or fill in our Request a quote form below.

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NOTE: We accept all neutral 3D, 2D & ZIP format types, whilst we do accept .STL files it is preferable for STEP or IGES files. We do not accept .catia, .prt, .asm, .dwg, .ipt, .dgn, .3dm, .sldasm and .par so please convert to a neutral format prior to uploading. Please upload no more then 20 files or a total file size of 20MB.

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